Facile Fabrication of Redox-Active Covalent Organic Frameworks via Reductive <i>N</i> -methylation
Redox-active covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are promising materials for electronics, sensing, and catalysis. However, their synthesis is hampered by the scarcity of redox-active monomers and the difficulty of functionalizing as-synthesized frameworks without compromising crystallinity. Here, we introduce a reductive N -methylation strategy that enables the universal and mild conversion of imine-linked COFs into crystalline tertiary amine-linked frameworks (NMe-COFs). The method preserves structural order while imparting strong electron-donating and redox-responsive properties. Among the NMe-COFs, COF-300-NMe exhibits an 11-fold increase in iodine uptake with a distinct gate-opening adsorption profile─a behavior that computational studies attribute to enhanced framework flexibility and raised electronic energy levels. Furthermore, incorporation of the electron acceptor 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane into COF-300-NMe yields a charge-transfer complex exhibiting distinct spin signatures. This work establishes a versatile postsynthetic linkage conversion strategy, paving the way toward stimuli-responsive soft COFs and purely organic spin-active materials.
Authors
- Valentin Valtchev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2341-6397)
- Qianrong Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3365-5508)
- Hui Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9198-3951)
- Jinquan Suo
- Fengqian Chen
- Shilun Qiu
- Bin Zhao
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Jilin University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Normandie Université (FR)
- Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie (FR)
- Jilin Medical University (CN)
- Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry
- Université de Caen Normandie (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Published
- 2026-07-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c01356
- Primary Topic
- Covalent Organic Framework Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Program for Jilin University Science and Technology Innovative Research Team